When Herbert Randolph Ashby Sr. was born on 25 December 1922, in Loudoun, Virginia, United States, his father, Robert Lee Ashby, was 24 and his mother, Minnie Leslie Lemon, was 30. He married Myrtle Louise Heinbuch on 29 September 1945, in Arlington, Virginia, United States. He lived in Jefferson Magisterial District, Loudoun, Virginia, United States for about 10 years. He died on 25 July 1994, in Fairfax, Virginia, United States, at the age of 71, and was buried in Ebenezer Baptist Church Cemetery, Bluemont, Loudoun, Virginia, United States.